Chapter 66: Two Major Events in the Village

As soon as the hushed voice fell, Zhou Ye was met with a death glare from the boss.

He quickly shut his mouth.

The rumbling continued, growing louder and louder, and lights appeared on the road up the hillside opposite them.

Zhou Ye froze for a moment. A tractor?

He stared at the slope, and the boss’s cold voice sounded in his ear.

“They’re coming out.”

Zhou Ye’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly retracted his gaze and turned to look at the house in front of him.

The courtyard gate opened.

A man holding a torch headed toward the outhouse.

Lu Huaishen moved, carrying a burlap sack as he approached.

Zhou Ye hurriedly followed.

Just as Li Hongjun finished his business and stepped out of the latrine, a sack was thrown over his head.

A flurry of punches and kicks rained down on him, so brutal that he couldn’t even make a sound.

Ten minutes later.

After venting his anger, Lu Huaishen raised his hand and struck the back of Li Hongjun’s neck.

He dumped the unconscious man into the courtyard and then picked up a rock, hurling it at the window of Chen Juhua’s house.

“Bang!”

The noise was deafening.

Chen Juhua woke up with a jolt and yelled, “Who’s there?!”

Lu Huaishen threw another stone.

“Bang!”

Now fully awake, Chen Juhua cursed loudly, “Which heartless bastard—”

Lu Huaishen withdrew his gaze and glanced at Zhou Ye beside him. He lowered his voice.

“Let’s go.”

Lu Huaishen and Zhou Ye had only walked a short distance before, behind them, Chen Juhua’s cries rang out.

“Hongjun! Hongjun! My precious son, what happened to you?!”

“Who hit you? Tell me! Your mother will make them pay!”

“Oh, my poor son!”

“Husband, look at how miserable we are…”

…

The tractor arrived at the educated youth’s quarters.

Song Yue got off the tractor, waved at the brigade leader and his deputy, then turned and headed inside.

At the courtyard gate, she saw it was closed.

She frowned slightly and reached out to see if she could push it open.

With a shove—

A sharp scraping sound came from behind the gate.

A stool.

Annoying as Director Chen was, at least he had left the door unlocked for her. Not bad for tonight.

Song Yue latched the gate, turned, and went inside.

She untied the straw rope securing the door, quietly opened it, slipped inside, and locked it again.

Then she went straight to bed.

…

The next morning.

At dawn.

Two major events shook Crooked Nest Village.

The first was that the Chen family’s third daughter-in-law, Yang Chunhua, had a breech baby, putting both her and the child’s lives at risk.

Even the brigade’s midwife couldn’t do anything.

But then, the newly arrived educated youth, Song Yue, stepped in. No one knew what method she used, but she saved both mother and child.

The second big event was that Chen Juhua’s precious son, Li Hongjun, was ambushed on his way to the latrine last night. Someone threw a sack over his head and beat him half to death, leaving him in the courtyard.

It was only because Chen Juhua heard the commotion and ran out that he was found in time. Otherwise, who knew what would have happened?

Since they couldn’t find the culprit, Chen Juhua started calculating who might have done it.

She figured out who was most suspicious.

The biggest suspects? Song Yue and the Yang couple.

After all, they had just had a dispute that afternoon, and by nightfall, Li Hongjun had been ambushed with such a dirty trick.

But after some thought, Chen Juhua dismissed Song Yue—after all, she lived at the educated youth quarters and was just a young woman. There was no way she had the strength to overpower her precious son.

That left only the Yang couple.

And so—

At the crack of dawn, Chen Juhua stormed into the Chen household and started pointing fingers and cursing.

The Chen family was still celebrating the newborn’s arrival.

But then Chen Juhua barged in, wailing and making a huge scene, infuriating everyone.

They explained that because Yang Chunhua had been in labor, they had all stayed at home. There was no way they had time to go out and cause trouble.

Of course, Chen Juhua didn’t believe them.

With no other choice, the brigade leader had to step in and vouch for them.

Still, Chen Juhua refused to listen. She cried, wailed, and rolled around on the ground, making such a fuss that the brigade leader finally snapped and declared that from now on, he wouldn’t care about her or her son anymore.

If Li Hongjun got into trouble again, even if he was beaten to death, he wouldn’t intervene.

Seeing that the brigade leader was truly angry, Chen Juhua finally got up, said nothing, and slunk away.

Today’s task was collective land clearing.

Everyone gathered together.

The chatter around Song Yue fell into her ears.

She had to admit…

When someone was exhausted, even gossip lost its appeal. All she wanted was to sleep a little longer.

As she dug at the weeds, her mind drifted toward thoughts of sleep.

Then, someone suddenly called her name.

“Song Yue, you’re really something! I heard you were busy at Guoqiang’s place until late at night, yet here you are at work without even taking a break. Impressive!”

Another person chimed in, “Yeah, why push yourself so hard? Didn’t the Chen family give you a red envelope? I heard it had dozens of yuan in it. Why worry about work points? You should’ve taken a break!”

Song Yue looked up and asked, “We can take breaks?”

One sentence.

The people around her fell silent.

An auntie finally answered, “Of course you can take a break, Song Yue. Half a day, a whole day—even that’s fine.”

Song Yue nodded thoughtfully.

“Oh, I see. I didn’t know that before. Thanks, Auntie.”

Another auntie asked, “So are you taking a break now to rest?”

Song Yue smiled.

“Since I’m already here, might as well not waste the trip. I’ll work until noon and rest in the afternoon.”

The people around her clicked their tongues.

Look at her—so hardworking, so diligent, such a tough young woman.

…Such a pity she brought bad luck to men.

Sigh…

Someone suddenly asked enthusiastically, “Song Yue, I heard the Chen family gave you a red envelope with dozens of yuan in it. Is that true?”

Song Yue glanced at the speaker—a middle-aged woman.

Her voice was calm.

“I haven’t looked inside the envelope yet.”

And she really hadn’t. She had been too exhausted. The moment she lay down, she passed out, then woke up, washed up, and rushed over to work. Where would she find the time?

More importantly…

She was making it clear that she didn’t want to discuss the amount.

Anyone smart would take the hint.

But the woman pressed on, “Why didn’t you check? It’s dozens of yuan!”

Song Yue stopped working, looked at her, and said flatly,

“If there aren’t dozens of yuan inside, Auntie, will you make up the difference for me?”

“After all, even I don’t know how much is in there, yet you seem to know already.”

The woman lowered her head and silently continued working.

Song Yue was about to resume when another person spoke up.

“Song Yue, since you treated someone’s illness, can we come to you if we have any medical problems in the future?”

At this, all eyes turned to her.

“Of course,” Song Yue agreed readily. Then she added, “As long as you pay.”

The moment money was mentioned, some people’s expressions changed.

A few immediately complained.

“You’re charging money?”

“We’re all from the same village. Can’t you treat us for free?”

“Exactly, why charge?”

Song Yue, already sleep-deprived and irritable, had no patience for them.

She slowly stood up, towering over the squatting workers, and pointed her sickle at one of them.

“Why charge? Then tell me, why do you eat? Why do you work? Why do you take a dump? Why so many questions?”

That person was stunned.